Camera Requirements

• No camera is made specifically for light trails; however, there are several key features that make the process possible. Shutter speed control is important as light trail photography requires long exposures. Digital SLRs with shutter speed priority mode and bulb mode are ideal. Look in your camera manual to find the longest shutter speed setting. Thirty seconds or more will often suffice for light trails. Bulb mode is also an invaluable tool for long exposures, simply allowing photographers to keep the camera shutter open as long as the shutter release is pressed. Remote shutter releases are useful accessories for cameras with bulb mode and allow photographers to keep bulb mode open without keeping a hand on the camera's shutter release.
  
  

Subject and Location

• Your chosen subject for light trail photography is going to dictate the location of the shoot. If you are making a shot of traffic light trails, you need a road where brakes and headlights dominate the view more than peripheral lighting. If you want to shoot star trails, you need to get out of the city where light pollution is at a minimum. Wherever you shoot, you must be hyper vigilante in protecting your exposures from stray light that could ruin the image. For example, star trail photos must be made in an area where no stray light, such as a street lamp, leaks into a long exposure and overpowers the night sky.
  
  

Timing

• Timing your long exposures correctly is important to getting the best light trail shot possible. Natural lighting can make or break your image. The faintest feathered light peaking over the horizon during a rising or setting sun can either perfectly complement light trails and their surrounding environment or overexpose everything it touches. The amount of light that can bleed into a long exposure is hard to predict, and there is no way to get an exposure right the first time. Keeping records of when you are shooting and your exposure times will be helpful in determining when to start an exposure and what settings to use. Keep experimenting until you get satisfactory results.
  
  

Stacking Software

• Stacking software is common amongst photographers creating light trail images. Programs like RegiStax, DeepSkyStacker and even Photoshop enable users to combine multiple frames, with the compositions, into one shot. Light trail images benefit from stacking software because the diverse brightness, shapes and positioning of lights in different frames can make for an interesting blend of lighting.